


Time to Give

by twenty3



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, IronStrange, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:55:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26480776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twenty3/pseuds/twenty3
Summary: Thanks to the pain, it took Stephen’s brain a few seconds to get a handle on what was looking back at him.The same brown eyes were there. The same long eyelashes.But all of that was on a face thirty years younger.After a battle, Stephen wakes up next to Tony, finding his once fifty-year-old boyfriend to now be fifteen. He immediately calls Rhodey to help calm the panicked kid down because of course, Tony doesn't know who Stephen is.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 13
Kudos: 380





	Time to Give

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for clicking!
> 
> I toyed with this one a bit - I wasn't sure if I wanted to split it up into chapters, or go with a long one-shot. I went with the latter and told myself it'll give me more time to finish my other WIPs. Which are coming along, but also mysteriously seem to be multiplying instead of dwindling in number. *shrugs*
> 
> Anyway, this fic isn't all that heavy on the details of de-aging/age regression. I've never written a fic like this, and actually don't think I've really read any age regression fics. But the idea is interesting to me, especially since the friendship between Tony and Rhodey is so strong and started when they were young.
> 
> So thank you again, and hope you enjoy!

Prior to strong fingers closing around his damaged ones and opening his eyes to the last thing he ever expected to see, Stephen had no way of knowing there was anything wrong.

Moments before, the sorcerer started to come to slowly. He kept his eyes closed, knowing without opening them that there was already morning light brightening the room. That was something Tony hadn’t started doing until Stephen. Before, the penthouse bedroom was always encased in total blackness during the rare times Tony was sleeping in his room. But with his relationship with Stephen came many compromises; being woken up at a reasonable hour by the sun was one of them.

Instead of opening his eyes, Stephen shuffled across the bed until he found the warmth of Tony’s body. He sighed happily, extending his left arm out towards the other man until he was wrapping most of his arm around what he guessed was Tony’s waist, trying to draw their bodies closer together.

A shock of pain starting in his hand and shooting up his arm finally made Stephen open his eyes.

The initial intention was to ask just what the hell Tony thought he was doing. He knew better than anyone how fragile Stephen’s hands were, and to just grab his fingers like that and squeeze made no sense at all.

Thanks to the pain, it took Stephen’s brain a few seconds to get a handle on what was looking back at him.

The same brown eyes were there. The same long eyelashes.

But all of that was on a face thirty years younger.

It was the total panic and fear Stephen saw in Tony’s eyes that made him snap to attention. He sat upright quickly, which made Tony release his hand and jump out of the bed to press up against the wall, his chest heaving with his quickened breaths.

“What the fuck is this?” Tony demanded.

Stephen wished he had the answer to that. All he could do was stare up at a clearly teenage Tony, who was on the verge of a panic attack.The eyes were the same. But he was shorter, skinnier. His hair a perfect chestnut without the shades of gray starting to take over. No laugh lines around his eyes, no beard across his jaw.

“Tony?” Stephen managed to ask, even though it was obvious it was him.

“What the hell do you want?” the now younger man asked. “Why the fuck -” he looked down at his body for the first time. He was wearing a t-shirt and boxers, both of which had fit him much better the night before when he had changed into them before crawling into bed next to Stephen. “Jesus Christ. Did you – what the fuck did you do to me?”

All of a sudden, Stephen was very well aware of the fact that he was shirtless and also wearing only boxers, which Tony had taken note of due to the fact that the sheets had fallen away from Stephen’s body when the other man had vacated the bed.

_Their_ bed. Because they were in a relationship. Had been for just over a year now. They celebrated their anniversary six weeks ago. Hawaii.

The ragged breathing coming from Tony drew Stephen out of his own head. He swung his legs out of the bed and stood. Immediately he could tell that that had been the wrong move.

Now Tony could see how much taller he was. How muscular his chest, arms and legs were. Tony’s brain was screaming at him to run, but it was clear the only door out of the room was on the other side of the much stronger, adult man standing across from him. He did the best he could to ignore making the connection between waking up in a strange bed with a strange man and why his body was so sore and tired.

“Just – please just call my dad, okay?” Tony begged, but his voice was surprisingly steady. “He always pays.

“I didn’t kidnap you,” Stephen replied, finally finding the ability to speak more than a single word.

Tony scoffed. “Then you fucking drugged me. Because I have no memory of meeting you, or coming back here with you. I wouldn’t have just – you’re like twice my god damn age.”

_Try three times_ , Stephen thought, but thankfully didn’t say. “What is the last thing you remember?” he asked instead.

“I don’t want to play this fucking game,” Tony spat. “If I’m you didn’t kidnap me, then give me my clothes and let me leave. I won’t call the cops, okay? No one would believe me anyway that I didn’t come back here with you willingly. Just let me go.”

The break in his voice at the end of his rant tore right to Stephen’s heart. It was obvious Tony was terrified. Confused, sure, but mostly terrified.

And it was because he couldn’t remember anything, really.

There were vague flashes, but they felt like years ago instead of hours. But Tony ignored it and kept his attention focused on the mostly naked man standing far too close to him for comfort. If he started to move towards him, Tony had no idea what he would do.

“I don’t understand,” Stephen whispered, mostly to himself. Before Tony could agree with that, he shook his head slowly. “How old are you?”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. That you thought I was legal,” Tony seethed. “Just let me get the fuck out of here.”

“You can’t,” Stephen said. “I know how this looks, but it’s not what you think.”

“So you didn’t rape me last night?”

Venom dripped from each word as it was spoken. Tony crossed his arms over his chest to try and seem stronger than he felt, but truth be told, it was a defense mechanism.

Stephen wasn’t sure how he hadn’t gotten sick to his stomach at that. “No,” he choked out. “I didn’t – you don’t understand.” Then, in a flash, Stephen suddenly had the answer. “Let me call Rhodey.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “How do you know Rhodey?” he asked, then shook his head. “Leave him out of this. Just let me go.”

“I can’t do that, because there is something very wrong going on here and -”

“Yeah, no shit. You drugged and then fucked an underage kid.”

Stephen shook his head almost violently. “No. I didn’t. We didn’t do – that’s not what this is.”

“Then why the fuck did I wake up next to you like this?!” Tony exclaimed, motioning to his own body before Stephen’s.

“Because we -” Stephen started, but stopped himself. Telling a teenager who had no idea who he was that they were dating would only make matters worse. He would seem crazier than Tony already thought he was. “Let me call Rhodey, okay? He can help me explain.”

For a long time, Tony didn’t say anything. He didn’t move at all, just stared at Stephen with a mixture of hate and apprehension.

“You’re not going to let me go, are you,” he stated more than asked.

“I can’t,” Stephen sighed. “But I promise you, Rhodey can help me figure out what’s going on. You don’t trust me, and that’s fine. I get it. But you trust him, right?”

Tony didn’t answer that. “This is some sort of trick.”

“It’s not, I -”

“Doctor Strange.”

The voice coming from the ceiling made them both jump, Tony more so than Stephen. He looked around the room wildly, trying to figure out where the female voice was coming from.

“Yes, FRIDAY?” Stephen responded, keeping his eyes on Tony.

“I have taken the liberty of contacting Colonel Rhodes. He will be here within a half an hour. I have also reached out to Wong, who will arrive as soon as he’s able to leave the Sanctum.”

“Thank you,” Stephen exhaled, feeling relief at the thought of having someone who could keep Tony calm.

But calm was a long way off for Tony. “If you hurt Rhodey, I swear to god -”

He didn’t get to carry through with his threat. “I’m not going to hurt anyone. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I’m going to figure it out. We just have to wait a few minutes until Rhodey gets here.”

“I want you the fuck away from me.” Tears had sprung into Tony’s eyes, making his voice thick with emotion. “I don’t believe a fucking word you’ve said. If you’re not letting me leave, then at least get away from me.”

“Tony, I swear I -” but Stephen stopped short when he saw the tear slide down Tony’s pale cheek. His stomach turned to lead, and hardly any air would go into his lungs, no matter how hard he tried to breathe deep. “Okay,” he said softly after a moment. “I’m going to go into the living room and wait for Rhodey. Just – I’m so sorry you’re scared. But it’s going to be okay."

There was no missing the look of despair in Tony’s eyes.

Knowing that there was no way for Tony to get out of the penthouse from the bedroom, Stephen vacated the space, softly closing the door behind him. Leaving Tony to break down by himself.

He slid down the wall he had been up against since getting out of that bed until his knees were hugged to his chest. His hands gripped his hair painfully to try and get his brain to work properly. None of his prior kidnapping experiences had been anything like this. It was always straight forward. He would be in a room with a relatively normal looking guy. Someone made a call. Money was exchanged, and he was back home before he knew it. The people who took him were subsequently found and arrested. And on he went with his life.

Although, it had been several years since anything like that had happened. But still, this was so different. This was much more terrifying because he had no idea where he was or what had happened in the last...how long? He couldn’t even be sure. His mind was blank except for the fear and pain radiating throughout his body.

On the other side of the door, Stephen was gulping down as many deep breaths as he could to get the nausea to go away. If the look on Tony’s face hadn’t been enough, his words were certainly doing the trick. He couldn’t blame him for thinking that way, but the mere implication that he would do anything like that to him was too much to take.

It wasn’t until he heard the front door opening that he realized he was still in nothing but a pair of gray boxers. Tony’s favorite to see on him, actually. How ironic.

Stephen pulled the blanket from the back of the couch around his shoulders as Rhodey came through the kitchen into the living room. He knew he looked ridiculous. He didn’t care.

“What’s going on?” Rhodey asked, trying to keep his voice even.

Stephen found great relief in the fact that the other man was still the appropriate age. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “When I woke up, Tony was – he’s young. Teenager young.”

Rhodey blinked. “What?”

“There must have been some sort of spell that hit him during the battle yesterday,” Stephen said, as much to himself as to Rhodey. “I don’t know yet exactly. But he’s a teenager. So he doesn’t know me, and he’s freaking out because he woke up next to me and...” Stephen trailed off. Rhodey made it a point not to look down at the sorcerer’s exposed body.

“He doesn’t remember anything?”

Stephen shook his head. “No. He thinks that I – Rhodey, I swear to you, when we went to sleep last night, he was fifty years old. We didn’t do anything when we got home except shower and then went right to bed. He was exhausted, pretty beat up from the battle, but I didn’t touch him. I mean, we showered together, but we do that all the time. There was nothing more than kissing and holding him until we fell asleep. But that – he was _my_ Tony at that point. I swear. We didn’t do anything last night, and this morning I just...when I woke up, he was like that, and I didn’t try to go near him. I didn’t. He was so scared and thinks that I...”

Rhodey didn’t need any more clarification on what Tony had thought. It was evident in the way Stephen’s hands were trembling more than normal and the built up tears in his eyes.

“You don’t need to convince me of anything,” Rhodey said gently, putting a firm hand on Stephen’s shoulder. “I know you would never do anything to hurt him. Never anything like... _that_. I know that, Stephen. I promise.” He let a beat pass. “What do you need me to do?”

A shaky breath exhaled from Stephen’s lungs. “I need to talk to Wong, to research what the hell is going on. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but Tony needs – you’re the only one he’ll know, the only one he’ll trust.”

Tony couldn’t hear everything that was being said, but he picked up enough to know that he apparently wasn’t in the danger he initially thought he was. He recognized Rhodey’s voice immediately, although it seemed deeper.

He found out why when the door opened slowly, revealing his best friend as he entered the room.

For several moments, Tony just stared at him. It was obviously Rhodey. Just much, much older. And that scared Tony more than waking up in bed next to a strange man had.

“Rhodey?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“Hey, man,” Rhodey replied with a small smile. “You doing alright?”

“What’s going on? Why are you – is this a trick?”

Rhodey shook his head. “No. It’s me.” Before Tony could express his doubt, Rhodey set about proving it to him. “You hated cranberry sauce until you tried my mom’s at Thanksgiving. You can’t sleep with socks on. I always steal your Twizzlers when you’re in class. Your favorite -”

The last bit was cut off by Tony crossing the room and hugging him on the verge of too hard, but Rhodey didn’t complain. He just returned the embrace, letting his best friend of over thirty years cry against his shoulder while he tried to comprehend the gravity of what was going on.

After they finally let each other go, they moved to sit on the couch against the wall opposite the bed. Tony’s entire body was shaking, but before Rhodey could do anything, the teenager started pulling on sweatpants and a sweatshirt from the pile of clothes hanging on the arm of the couch.

He watched silently, even though he knew the clothes Tony was now wearing belonged to Stephen. It didn’t seem to matter, especially since Tony had immediately stopped shaking once they were on.

“What the hell is going on?” Tony asked, his voice as young as his face.

It broke Rhodey’s heart to see the kid he had roomed with at MIT all those years ago so scared and vulnerable again. It reminded him of the night Tony’s parents had died.

A night which Tony didn’t know about yet.

But that thought was pushed to the back burner for the time being.

“I’m not sure, outside of the fact that yesterday, you were fifty, and today you’re fifteen,” Rhodey said gently. “But we’re working on it, and it’s going to be alright.”

Tony swallowed hard. “You know that guy?” he asked, jerking his head towards the bedroom door.

Rhodey nodded. “I do. His name is Stephen. Tones,” he said, using the other’s nickname to help keep him calm. “I know you woke up in a scary situation. But trust me, he didn’t do anything to hurt you. He would never do anything to you, I swear.”

“Everything hurts,” Tony almost whined. “And when I woke up, we – why the hell was I in bed with him then?”

There was no way of knowing how much he should tell Tony, so Rhodey was playing it by ear. “You live here,” he explained. “Yesterday there was a – a fight. You help people when that sort of thing happens, so that’s why you’re sore.”

“What does that mean?” Tony wanted to know. “Help who? I don’t know how to fight. And if I live here, that still doesn’t explain why I woke up with -” Tony stopped short. Rhodey gave him a small smile. “Oh. I’m gay.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Bisexual, really,” Rhodey clarified, then realized it didn’t matter at the moment. “But yeah.”

“How long have I – with him? How long have we been together?”

“Just over a year,” Rhodey answered. “He’s – he does the same thing you do.”

“Which is?”

Rhodey sighed. He knew Tony wasn’t going to just let him gloss over any details. “You’re superheroes.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fuck off.”

“I’m serious. A lot has happened to you in the last thirty-five years, man. To both of us.” A look of both curiosity and anxiety flashed across Tony’s face. “But that doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is figuring out what’s going on and getting you...better. How do you feel?”

Before responding, Tony actually considered the question, because it wasn’t an easy one to answer. The initial crippling fear he had felt when he first woke up subsided quicker than he thought possible. Being with Rhodey was the only reason for that. In the back of his mind, he was both elated and surprised that they had remained such closed friends all these years later. He was definitely having a hard time wrapping his head around this time travel, or whatever the hell it was, but he pushed that aside and focused on how he actually felt.

His muscle soreness aside, he felt alright. Tired, overwhelmed, thirsty and hungry. He had about thirteen thousand questions at the moment, and he was realizing that most of them revolved around the man he had woken up next to. But he supposed that would all have to wait.

“I’m okay,” Tony finally replied. “Mostly worried, I guess, about what any of this means or what’s happening. Can it even be fixed? Am I just going to have to live thirty-five years over again? How long is it going to take to -”

“I don’t know,” Rhodey cut in gently to prevent his friend from going into a spiral. “But I can promise you that if anyone can sort it all out, it’s Stephen. This stuff is sort of his forte.”

Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This is probably weirder for you than it is for me, huh?”

Rhodey breathed a short laugh. “It’s definitely up there. But don’t worry about me, alright? How about we get you some food and something to drink?”

“Okay,” Tony sighed more than said, his defeated tone matching his body language.

He stood with Rhodey, shoving his hands in the pockets of the sweatpants he was now wearing. The action made him wonder what had prompted him to put on the clothes. True, he had been shaking all over and felt cold, but it wasn’t something he remembered consciously thinking of. It wasn’t a decision he made so much as a reaction.

The narrative about the sweats stopped in his head when they stepped into the living room. The man, Stephen, was now dressed in navy pants and a gray long sleeved t-shirt. Vaguely, Tony wondered where he had gotten the clothes from. He looked up from the huge, ancient book on the coffee table in front of him, eyes immediately finding Tony’s. The teenager stood behind Rhodey, even though he believed the other man wasn’t a threat, but still feeling better having his friend between them for the time being.

Stephen put the phone in his hand down without saying goodbye. He stayed sitting on the couch, clearly unsure of what to do. His heart wrenched at the sight of Tony. The small frame of the young man was accentuated by the too big clothes he had donned. Stephen’s clothes. Ones he frequently stole.

Forcing himself to look from Tony to Rhodey, Stephen swallowed. “I know what’s going on. Wong is on his way to confirm.”

As if on cue, a knock came at the front door. Instead of going to answer it, Stephen instructed FRIDAY to let the other sorcerer in. Tony looked up at the ceiling again, and Stephen felt his lips twitch slightly in a smile at being able to see the gears turning in Tony’s head in regards to the AI he didn’t know he had created.

“Wow.”

The single word got the attention of everyone in the room. Wong was standing at the edge of the space, looking at Tony in nothing short of wonder. He started to walk closer, but stopped when he saw Tony flinch and take a step back.

“It’s okay,” Rhodey said, turning around to face Tony. “He’s another friend.”

“Why is he dressed like that?”

A quip along the lines of _your boyfriend dresses this way too, Stark_ died long before it fully formed. Instead, Wong smirked, and the action helped disarm the younger man. He then got closer, holding up his hands slowly when he saw Tony start to tense.

“I’m not going to touch you, I promise,” Wong said softly. Stephen had never seen him so calm, so gentle before. He knew his friend had a soft spot for Tony, but would never admit it. “What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s all fuzzy, and mostly stuff that happened a while ago. I can’t – I don’t know what I did yesterday. I don’t know what day yesterday was supposed to have been. I don’t have any idea what’s going on.”

Wong nodded once. “That’s kind of the point,” he said before turning to Stephen. “It’s as we expected.”

“You’re sure it will wear off on its own?”

Another nod. “I’ve seen it before, from this same class of sorcerers we fought yesterday. Seventy-two hours at the most. The spell’s intent is to disarm powerful sorcerers. Revert them back to when they were young, defenseless. Usually, the target is – well, neutralized, rather quickly. Otherwise the spell wears off. I’ll continue to research an antidote, but I’m not certain there is one. He’ll need plenty of fluids and rest, but otherwise, he’ll be back to his normal self in a couple of days.”

And with that, he was gone.

Tony stared after him in near disbelief before looking at Rhodey with fresh tears in his eyes. “Three days? What the hell am I going to do for three days?”

“Hang out with me, of course,” Rhodey replied with a smile that didn’t have the desired effect on Tony.

“I don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head. “What the hell happened to me? A spell? Like magic? What the fuck, Rhodey?”

The colonel looked over at Stephen, who had stood when Wong entered. “You want to take this one, Doc?”

Stephen looked between Rhodey and Tony. He could see in the genius’s brown eyes that his desire to know what was happening to him was outweighing his unease towards him. “Let’s go into the kitchen,” he suggested.

After getting everyone situated at the island with cups of coffee, Stephen thought about how to explain what was going on to a fifteen-year-old with no knowledge of the last thirty plus years. He kept in mind that Tony was always ahead of his time intelligence wise, but this would still be a lot to grasp.

“I’m a sorcerer,” Stephen started, making Tony raise both eyebrows. “I’m part of an order that protects the Earth from all kinds of threats. You and Rhodey are part of a similar outfit, called the Avengers. But your powers are different, more suited to your intelligence.”

Tony looked at Rhodey, who nodded. “Trust me. This is tame compared to some of the other stuff we’ve dealt with.”

“Yesterday, there was an attack by people similar to myself, but with ill intent. One of them cast a spell, likely directed at me. A spell that would revert me back to an age where I didn’t have my abilities and would therefore be powerless to stop them.”

“Stop talking to me like that.”

Stephen frowned. “Like what?”

“Like you’re a professor or something,” Tony huffed. “You’re talking _at_ me instead of _to_ me. Just – talk normally, would ya?”

In lieu of Stephen explaining that this is how he does normally talk, he nodded slightly. “Sorry. I don’t remember when it happened. But you must have gotten in the way. Because you weren’t the intended target, it seems that the spell took a little while to enact – to work on you.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Tony scoffed. “I know what enact means.”

“Tony,” Rhodey said gently. “He’s just trying to help.”

And he knew that, he really did. There was no reason to attack this man. Tony knew that. But he was being controlled by a wide range of emotions at the moment, and aggression was usually his best defense. He noted that the sorcerer didn’t seem phased at all by his behavior, which intrigued Tony more than anything.

“The delay is also likely due to the fact that you don’t have magical capabilities,” Stephen added seamlessly. “Otherwise the effects would have been obvious much sooner.”

“You mean before -” Tony started, but stopped himself. He remembered what Rhodey said, about how this man would never do anything to hurt him.

For the first time, Tony really looked into his eyes. They were a blue-green, and incredibly beautiful. Tony had never seen eyes that color before. He took them in. It was easy enough to see the struggle reflected in them, and Tony reminded himself that this man had gone to sleep with his older self and woken up with a teenager in his place.

It had been a difficult, weird day for everyone.

“So we came back here,” Tony said instead of finishing his previous train of thought. “And then what?”

Stephen shrugged. “We got cleaned up and went to bed.”

“And you had no idea anything was wrong with me?”

“No. Not until I woke up and saw you.”

Somehow, Tony knew he was telling the truth. He thought for a moment. “So there’s nothing we can do? We just sit and wait until this spell goes away?”

“If there’s an antidote, we’ll get it to you,” Stephen replied. “Otherwise, yeah. It’ll likely wear off similarly to how it came on. You’ll go to sleep fifteen, and wake up fifty.”

“That sounds awful,” Tony muttered, mostly to himself, but it made both Rhodey and Stephen smile. He sighed heavily. “Okay. I’m just stuck here until then?”

Rhodey nodded. “Probably best to not let the press get wind of this.”

“Press?”

“You’re probably the most recognizable person on the face of the planet,” Rhodey reported.

Tony groaned. “This just gets better and better. What else do I need to know?”

Stephen and Rhodey exchanged wary glances. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about how much information to divulge to Tony. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to tell him the highlights of the last three and a half decades as it would only upset him with everything that’s happened.

But they also knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t just accept zero information with a wink and a smile and sit quietly watching movies for however long this took.

“The Red Sox finally won the World Series,” Rhodey offered. That got Tony to smile. “Four times, actually.”

“That’s even more unbelievable than me being a superhero.”

“We’ll watch the games after breakfast,” the colonel decided.

With that, Stephen stood from his seat. “I’ll leave you guys to it. Let me know if you need anything, or if there’s any change.”

“Wait,” Tony said suddenly. “Where are you going to go?”

“The Sanctum,” Stephen replied. Tony raised an eyebrow. “Where I live.”

“You don’t live here?”

The question made Stephen’s stomach flip, as it did every time this conversation had come up between them lately. “No. I – it’s complicated. I have responsibilities at the Sanctum, and it’s not always safe there so – it doesn’t matter. I have somewhere to stay. Just try to keep drinking fluids and get some rest, okay?”

After a pause, Tony nodded. “Sure.”

As Stephen made his exit, Rhodey stood and joined him. Before opening the front door, Stephen let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Rhodey offered him a smile and pulled him into a brief hug.

“He’s going to be okay,” Stephen said, as much to himself as to the other man. “Just try not to let him get his hands on anything about the things that have happened. I don’t know what affect it’ll have on him.” When Rhodey merely nodded, Stephen sighed. “I’m sorry. You know him even better than I do. I don’t need to tell you what to do.”

The smile stayed on Rhodey’s face. “Don’t apologize. You’re worried about him. And you know things I don’t, things no one else ever will.” Stephen’s eyes stayed trained on the floor. “I’ll keep you updated, I promise.”

“Thank you.”

Back at the Sanctum, Stephen joined Wong in the library to search for an antidote. Neither man spoke as they poured over the countless volumes in front of them. Wong kept a careful eye on his friend, but knew better than to ask him about it. Best to let him try and research the problem away.

But Stephen was having a hard time concentrating. The frightened look in Tony’s eyes from earlier haunted his every sweep of the pages.

Every leather bound cover reminded him of Tony’s eyes.

* * *

“You have to tell me _something.”_

Tony’s plea was supported by his best puppy dog eyes, but Rhodey stood firm. He kept his eyes on the television screen to try and make the point that he couldn’t be broken.

“We don’t have time to rehash everything,” he said for what had to have been the fiftieth time. “Can you just trust me? I know it’s annoying, but it’s for the best.”

“Then just tell me about him.”

Rhodey looked over at Tony with a frown. “Who?”

“Stephen.”

“I don’t – what do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Tony replied, earning an eye roll from Rhodey. “But I’d settle for the basics, I guess. How did we meet?”

Rhodey hesitated only briefly. “Work.”

“What, like a superhero conference?”

“No, there was a...you guys had to team up. Save the world. That sort of thing.”

“Right. Oldest story in the book,” Tony deadpanned. “So that’s it? We kick ass then start dating?”

Rhodey sighed. “No. Not exactly. You didn’t get along at first.”

Tony brightened at that and sat up. “Okay. See? Now we’re getting somewhere. What happened?”

“You’re too much alike,” Rhodey replied before he could stop himself. “So you drove each other crazy in the beginning. But it didn’t take that long for you guys to become friends and then...I don’t know. It just sort of happened.”

“Do you like him?”

“What difference does it make? He’s not _my_ boyfriend.”

Tony gave him an unimpressed look. “No, but he is dating your best friend. Of how many years at this point? What you think matters.”

“Do you think you’d still be dating him if I didn’t like him?”

“Will you just answer the question?”

Rhodey couldn’t help the smirk that came onto his face. He had missed this between them. With their hectic lives, it was rare he and Tony got to spend much time together anymore. They tried to hang out as often as they could, but it seemed that something was always interrupting them. Truth be told, Rhodey couldn’t remember when they had last spent any significant amount of time together that wasn’t during a battle or a meeting.

“I like him a lot,” Rhodey responded. “He’s a really good guy. He’s great for you.”

Tony tilted his head thoughtfully. “What do you mean?”

It suddenly struck Rhodey that Tony didn’t know any details about the struggles he’s gone through in his life. At fifteen, he was still a relatively innocent kid. Sure, he went to parties at school and drank more than he should have and was starting to mess around with girls. But most of that came later on. He was still naive to all the ways a person could suffer. And while it was true that Stephen helped combat a lot of those demons for Tony, there was no need to discuss any of the finer points here and now.

“A lot of little things. He makes sure you drink something other than coffee and eat an actual meal. Gets you to sleep in a bed most nights. And I’ve never seen you laugh the way you do with him.”

“That guy makes me laugh?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. “He doesn’t seem like he has much of a personality, never mind a sense of humor.”

“He’s really worried about you,” Rhodey retorted. “That’s how he gets. He can be really serious when he’s nervous or scared. Especially when it comes to you. He’s very protective.”

For a moment, Tony thought about that. “When did I start dating guys?” he found himself asking.

Rhodey huffed a laugh. “Why do you assume that I know every little detail about your life?”

“Because you do.”

Not only was Tony right, but talking about this was seemingly keeping him grounded and distracted, so Rhodey decided to just go with it. “I don’t know for sure. You had been, uh, experimenting, I guess, for a little while before you told me. I think you assumed it was just a phase until you realized it wasn’t. It was right before we graduated, though. So you were just around turning seventeen.”

“Why doesn’t Stephen live here?”

It was no surprise to Rhodey that Tony still had the habit of jumping around as his mind saw fit.

“That one I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “Other than you both have a lot of responsibilities.”

Tony shook his head. “His eyes gave him away when I asked,” he said, more to himself. “Like it was a big deal or something. Do we fight about it a lot?”

Rhodey shrugged. “You guys don’t fight. Not really. Argue, sure, but usually about the dumbest stuff imaginable.”

This got Tony off on another track effectively. “Like what?”

“Usually science versus magic. One time it was a three day rant about shrimp against steak. You made a PowerPoint and everything. The last one was where to go for your anniversary. He wanted to go to Hawaii because he had never been. You convinced him to go to South Africa so you could go cage diving with sharks.”

Tony’s nose scrunched at that. “That’s not very romantic.”

“Which is why you took him to Hawaii instead.” Rhodey smiled. “You just wanted it to be a surprise, I guess.”

Thinking about the gravity of an adult relationship where you celebrated an anniversary in Hawaii was a bit overwhelming for Tony. At fifteen, he never really thought he would ever be that focused on another person. He always assumed he would just have fleeting connections with various people so he could concentrate on work. The idea of an actual relationship that meant anything to him was a foreign concept he couldn’t quite wrap his head around.

So he decided not to try. “What about you?” Tony asked after a minute or so.

“What about me?”

“Are you seeing anyone? Married? Kids? It’s been a while, man. Tell me everything.”

So Rhodey did. For the most part, anyway. He skipped over the trickier parts. Namely the Civil War and the impact it had had on all of them. There was just no need to explain that the only reason he could walk so well was because Tony had designed braces that were invisible under his pants made up of nanoparticles encasing his legs. He preferred telling him about the Christmas parties at Stark Industries and the time Tony faked a proposal to get them free dessert at their favorite restaurant.

“And you said no?!” Tony exclaimed, hand flying to his chest in mock surprise.

Rhodey was laughing too hard to respond at first. “I said yes! I wanted the chocolate cake too and we weren’t going to get it if I turned you down.”

Tony smiled as bright as Rhodey had even seen. “So we’re engaged. Right now.”

“Nope,” Rhodey said, shaking his head. “I was sure to break up with you as soon as we left. So you couldn’t pull that on me at a later date. Didn’t need you planning a whole wedding just to keep a joke going.”

“That must be some chocolate cake.”

“Oh, man,” Rhodey sighed. “It’s the best.”

When Tony raised his eyebrows, Rhodey could all but read his mind.

Half an hour later, they were eating said chocolate cake. With a single call, Rhodey was able to get an entire cake delivered, despite the restaurant not yet being open for business.

For the first few bites, they just enjoyed their treat in silence. But Tony was still Tony, and couldn’t keep quiet for long.

“Am I a dick?”

Rhodey swallowed the mouthful of chocolate. “What?”

“Am I a dick?” Tony asked again. “Do I act like a spoiled, rich asshole and treat people terribly?”

“No,” Rhodey answered before Tony had even stopped asking the question. “Some people think you are. There are news outlets that like to portray you that way. But it’s not true.”

Tony dropped his eyes to his now mostly empty plate. “I’m kind of surprised we’re still friends.”

Rhodey frowned. “Why?”

A lame shrug preceded Tony’s response. “I don’t know. I guess I just assumed after MIT we would go our separate ways.” He looked up with a shy smile. “But I’m really glad I was wrong.”

“It happens a lot,” Rhodey teased, making Tony laugh.

“I bet I didn’t turn into a dick because I still have you around,” Tony mused. “So thanks for that.”

“You’re very welcome,” Rhodey said around another bite of cake.

When they were done, Rhodey put the leftovers in the fridge before coming back and reclaiming his seat next to Tony on the couch. He started flipping around the channels, trying to find something to watch. They had given up on the baseball games early on. Rhodey forgot how quickly Tony got bored with sports if he wasn’t watching the game live. The colonel was about to flip to Netflix and find a movie when Tony spoke up.

“You don’t have to sit here with me the whole time,” he said softly. “I promise I’ll be good and won’t burn the place down.”

Rhodey looked over at him. “Do you want me to leave you alone?”

Tony swallowed. “No,” he admitted, knowing there was no use trying to lie. “I just – I feel bad, ruining everyone’s day like this.”

“You didn’t ruin anything. And I can’t think of anything else that I would want to do over hanging out with you and making sure you’re okay.” He smiled as Tony got visibly choked up at his words. “Besides. No way you can finish the rest of that cake on your own, so I gotta stick around for that after dinner.”

Tony’s response came by way of a relieved smile.

* * *

For the last hour, Wong watched out of the corner of his eye while Stephen stared down at the pages in front of him. He clearly wasn’t reading any more. It didn’t take a genius to know he was lost in his own thoughts, no closer to any additional answers than he had been when he woke up next to a teenager this morning.

“Strange.”

Stephen’s reaction was delayed. He heard Wong, but it took a second for him to decide whether or not he was going to acknowledge him. In the end, he decided ignoring his friend who was spending all this time trying to help him, trying to help Tony, wasn’t the way to go. So he looked over at the other man, who stood from his chair for the first time all day.

“I think it’s time we took a break, got something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“I don’t care.”

That managed to draw a smile onto Stephen’s face. He sighed as he also stood, feeling the stiffness in his legs as they protested against the sudden task of having to support his weight. Without any additional discussion, he followed Wong downstairs to the kitchen.

Thanks to Tony’s insistence, the Sanctum was provided weekly with whatever provisions they needed. The billionaire managed to wear Stephen down by sending whatever he felt was necessary over until Stephen finally caved and took over the inventory for himself. Remembering unpacking a box containing countless different kinds of maple syrup oddly made Stephen feel a bit better.

In silence, they ate the soup and sandwiches they prepared. Wong was pleasantly surprised to see Stephen eat everything on his plate, despite his prior proclamation that he wasn’t hungry. He was content to leave the quiet between them, knowing Stephen well enough, but when the taller man had finished eating but didn’t make a move to go back to the library, he folded his hands on the table and decided to open the dialogue himself.

“I promise you, he’s going to be fine.”

“I know,” Stephen sighed. “It’s not that. When he woke up – Jesus, Wong. He was terrified. He thought that I had...because we were in bed, and so he thought...”

Further explanation wasn’t needed.

“He likely won’t remember,” Wong offered.

“I will. The look on his face – fuck. I’ll never get that out of my head.”

“You will,” Wong disagreed. Stephen looked up at him. “When he’s back, and you get to see him the way you know him again. It’ll fade.”

Even though Stephen sincerely doubted it, he didn’t argue. He didn’t see the point. Things may fade, but they never completely went away. It all just got added to the cycle of torment in his mind. That morning would stay in the front for a while, and then will get replaced by the next thing, and will just swirl around and around in his head with everything else.

With Donna dying. His accident. Dormammu. Titan. Almost losing Tony.

“I really hate being away from him,” Stephen muttered miserably to try and distract himself from his poisonous thoughts.

Wong sighed. “I know. You two really are quite annoying about it, really.”

Another smile tugged at Stephen’s lips. “You do remember that you were the one who all but forced us together, right?”

“I did no such thing,” Wong scoffed. “I merely suggested that your combativeness towards one another was really misplaced attraction.” He shrugged. “It’s not my fault I’m always right.”

They didn’t go back to the library. Instead, they retired to their separate chambers for the night, despite the still early hour. Stephen knew Wong would continue to read, but he just didn’t have the energy.

A quick update from Rhodey told him that everything was okay. They were both doing fine, and he would call him again tomorrow.

So with that, Stephen crawled into bed alone to begin a sleepless night without Tony.

* * *

Across the city, Tony chewed his lip nervously.

“I think I’ll just sleep out here,” he said.

Rhodey frowned. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It seems weird to sleep in there,” Tony replied, jerking his head towards the master bedroom. “It’s not – I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep in there.”

“Okay. Then you take the guest room, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

But Tony shook his head. “No. You’re stuck here because of me, I can’t make you sleep on the couch.”

“You know this thing is more comfortable than most people’s beds, right?”

“Which is why I’ll be fine sleeping out here.”

After a moment, with a slight nod, Rhodey relented. “Alright. I’m going to go grab some of your sweats to sleep in, though, if that’s okay.”

Tony stood from the couch. “I got it.”

The more time that passed, the more Rhodey picked up on the Tony he had known yesterday still being there. First, he had pulled on Stephen’s clothes in a moment where he had been seeking comfort. And then things like this kept happening, where Tony would be playing the dutiful host, even though he was in a place he didn’t remember ever being.

But it didn’t seem to phase Tony at all, so Rhodey let him go about it.

Once back in the bedroom, Tony expected to feel anxious, but he didn’t. He was more curious than anything else. He glanced at the bed before veering off to the door in the corner, which lead into a small entryway. To the left was an expansive bathroom, and to the right was a walk in closet. Tony took a few steps towards the closet, where he saw more clothes than most stores had in stock. He opened a few drawers before he found a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt for Rhodey.

He meant to head back out into the living room, but instead found himself looking around the bathroom. It was bigger than any bathroom had any right to be; the shower alone was massive. Looking around the surfaces showed Tony evidence of the fact that two people spent a great deal of time here. There were two toothbrushes. Two sets of shampoo and conditioner. Two towels hanging on the rack next to the glass shower door.

A sudden wave of fondness swept of Tony, which he found odd. He was missing someone that he didn’t know, didn’t remember, but clearly shared most of his life with.

Even though he wanted to look through more of the bedroom, Tony didn’t. He figured he would have all night to do that while Rhodey was asleep. Tony was convinced he wouldn’t be able to ever fall asleep with all the static in his head, his mind in overdrive trying to keep up with the insanity of what was happening to him.

But when he handed the bundle of clothes to Rhodey, he felt exhausted. The weight of his emotions crushing him all day had left him drained, and he actually really wanted to crawl into that huge bed and burrow under the covers. He remembered thinking how comfortable and warm it had been, before the shock of a hand touching his side had taken the forefront of his attention.

It was just weird, he thought. The bed belonged to a different person. His older self, and that older self’s boyfriend. Would Stephen be freaked out that a teenager had slept in the sheets that he shared with the fifty year old he was dating?

No. He wouldn’t. And Tony knew that, simply based on his observations of Stephen earlier this morning and what Rhodey had said. He would just want Tony to be comfortable and get some rest.

What was really the issue was that Tony had a feeling the pillows and blankets would smell like the other man, and that it would make him miss Stephen even more.

Because how could he miss him at all when he didn’t even _know_ him?

“You alright?”

Rhodey’s question snapped Tony out of it, and he realized he was still standing in front of his friend, who was sitting on the couch with a worried look on his face.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed before sitting back down. “Just – I don’t know. It’s so weird. I don’t know what to think.”

“You don’t have to think anything, man,” Rhodey said gently. “Just try and relax and everything will go back to normal in a few days, okay?”

Tony nodded. “I’m trying to.” Another sigh. “Maybe I just need some more cake.”

With a laugh, Rhodey got up to comply with his friend’s wishes.

* * *

Hours later, Tony could hear the gentle snoring coming down the hall from the guest room where Rhodey was now asleep. He smiled, finding it funny that his roommate still snored all these years later. He wasn’t sure why he thought that would change, but found it comforting to know it hadn’t.

After some debate, Tony got up and silently went into the master bedroom. He closed the door behind him so as not to risk waking Rhodey up. He flicked on the light and let his eyes trail over the room. There wasn’t much to it, really. The bed was obnoxiously large. At least a king, but probably bigger. The couch on the opposite wall, but it looked more like it was used as a clothes depository than for sitting. No pictures were hung on the gray walls.

But next to the bed, on the side he had been sleeping on, was an end table. One on each side, actually. So Tony went around and after a brief hesitation, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the top drawer open.

Loose papers were contained inside, designs and sketches for what looked like armored suits. Tony studied them for a long time, in awe at recognizing his own handwriting messily scribbled throughout the pages. Under a stack he found a sleek tablet, which powered itself up as soon as he touched it.

“What the hell is this?” he wondered out loud.

“Apologies, Boss.” The voice from the ceiling made him jump again. “But I have restricted your access due to the current situation.”

Tony had to wait a second for his heart to stop racing. “Who’s talking?”

“My name is FRIDAY. You created me. I’m an artificial intelligence software.”

“Holy shit,” Tony breathed. “So I – did I really create you?”

“Yes, Boss. I have left many items still on the tablet that you are able to view without any potential negative psychological effects.”

“Why are there things that I can’t know?” Tony asked. “Has my life really been that bad?”

“I think if you take a look at the tablet, you’ll get your answer to that.”

Naturally, Tony got the hang of the new technology within seconds. He did design it, after all, just not for several more years. He marveled at the interface while scrolling through his options, which he could see were definitely limited. Opting to look at what he could instead of dwelling on what he couldn’t, he selected what appeared to be a personal file folder as opposed to the other ones, which looked more tailored towards work.

Thumbnails of photographs flooded the screen. Tony started flipping through them and quickly realized that they were of the trip to Hawaii Rhodey had told him about earlier. Almost every single one contained Stephen in one form or another, usually candid shots where the other man didn’t realize the camera was pointed towards him. Most of the photos revealed Stephen wearing nothing but a bathing suit, which fit his body like a glove. Tony found himself admiring the toned physique that had been so terrifying to him this morning with a whole new appreciation.

Then Tony came to a video file, and his finger hovered over the play button.

From the still image, he could see that it was again of Stephen. But he wasn’t on a hike or at the beach. He was laying down, crisp white pillows behind his head. It was hard to tell, but it didn’t look like he was wearing a shirt.

Tony debated what to do. This could be something that he shouldn’t be looking at. Maybe showing intimate moments between two consenting adults. And while it technically would be _him_ in the video, too, if that were the case, it wasn’t at the same time. It would be a violation of privacy.

But. _But._

Even though he had just really met him, and had only spent a short amount of time with him, Tony didn’t peg Stephen as the sex tape type. He wasn’t sure it was something he himself was into, either, but could see it more from that angle than the straight laced apparent doctor who had spoken to him like a weary professor. And FRIDAY had filtered through everything, right? She (she?) wouldn’t allow him to see something like that.

So he clicked play, with a very small part of him hoping his analysis was wrong.

Well, maybe not a _small_ part of him. Just the part that shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions.

Stephen was in bed, and was in fact shirtless. In the first few seconds, he was clearly asleep, breathing deep and even. Then his eyes fluttered open, revealing the multi-colored irises before he squinted at Tony and tried to fight a smile.

“You’re so creepy,” he sighed, shifting across the pillow towards the man with the camera.

“Nuh uh,” Tony heard himself say in a slightly deeper voice. “You know it’s my favorite when you first wake up. You’re overly affectionate and cuddly and it’s awesome.”

Tony’s assessment was being backed up by Stephen wrapping his arms around him and burying his face against Tony’s chest. He sighed happily when fingers started stroking through his hair.

“Tell me it’s raining and we can stay in bed all day,” he muttered into Tony’s t-shirt.

“Why does it have to be raining for that to happen?” Tony wanted to know, a hint of suggestiveness in his voice that made his fifteen-year-old self flush slightly. “We went on a hike yesterday. We deserve a day of rest.”

“Would we be resting?” Stephen asked, exaggerating sounding disappointed at the notion.

“Yeah. After.”

The laugh that came from Stephen went straight to Tony’s heart. He watched the man’s smile as he pulled away from Tony, looking up at him instead of the camera. When he started to lean up to initiate a kiss, the video ended.

Tony watched it seven more times.

* * *

“Is everything okay?”

Stephen tried to keep the panic out of his voice. He hadn’t been expecting Rhodey to call for a few more hours. First thing in the morning, the colonel had reached out to report that Tony seemed tired, but was otherwise alright. He assumed another call at the end of the night would happen as it had yesterday, but this one was in the middle of the afternoon.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rhodey replied. “Don’t worry, everything is fine. He just, uh, Tony wanted me to ask if you would come over for dinner.”

Several beats passed. “What?” Stephen finally managed lamely.

A short laugh came from the other end of the phone. “He said he wants you to come over for dinner. Must be sick of me already.”

“I’m not sure – that’s probably not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” Stephen admitted. “It’s not...you don’t think it’s weird?”

“Of course I think it’s weird,” Rhodey huffed. “This whole thing is weird. But I don’t think it’s a bad idea for you to come over here for a couple hours.” He paused for a second. “Unless it’s too weird for you and you’re not comfortable.”

Stephen sighed. “No. Well, yeah, I mean it is weird. Of course. But not in – it’s not that I don’t want to see him. He was just...god. He was terrified of me, Rhodey.”

“Yeah, he was. Before he knew what was happening. Now he’s asking if you’ll come over for taco Tuesday.”

“But it’s not Tuesday,” Stephen pointed out.

“Try telling that to him,” Rhodey replied, the fondness evident in his voice. “Look, if you really think it’s a bad idea, I’ll just tell him you’re tied up with some sorcerer business. He’ll get it.”

_No he won’t_ , Stephen thought. The idea of disappointing Tony ever, but especially when he was in such a vulnerable position, made Stephen’s head swim. “No, no. I’ll be there. What time?”

“I’d say six. The earlier the better. I forgot what a little gremlin he was when he was a teenager. Eats everything in sight.”

Just over three hours later, Stephen arrived at the penthouse, using the front door for the first time in over eighteen months. He knocked gently, even though he was quite sure FRIDAY had announced his arrival. Rhodey let him in, and looked like he was about to make a comment about it, then decided not to. Silently, Stephen followed him into the kitchen, where Tony was seated at the island, slicing tomatoes for the meal. He looked up and gave Stephen a brief, shy smile, but said nothing.

As the risk of a prolonged silence became too great, Stephen decided not to let it happen.

“What can I do?” he asked.

“Nothing, we’re just about ready to eat,” Rhodey replied. He stood behind the stove, stirring the pot of ground beef mixed with seasoning. “Sorry, I didn’t ask, but hope beef is okay.”

Stephen nodded. “Yeah, smells great.” Before he could overthink anything, he slid into the empty seat at the end of the row. “How are you feeling?” he asked Tony, who kept his eyes down on what he was doing.

“Fine,” the teenager reported with a shrug. “Still weird. Just – I’m alright.”

Stephen nodded once. “I’m sorry, we haven’t made any progress with an antidote. It’s looking like we’ll just have to wait for it to wear off.”

Another shrug. “No worries.”

A glance up at Rhodey revealed a supporting smile. Soon enough, the colonel was dishing out the tortillas and meat, leaving the rest of the fixings to be sorted out as desired.

While they ate, Stephen noticed Tony sneaking glances at his hands. He was having a good day, as far as they were concerned, but the trembling was noticeable. As always. But Stephen still managed to eat three tacos without any major incidents while Tony and Rhodey chatted about the recent movies Rhodey had picked for them to watch earlier in the day.

Just as they finished eating, Rhodey excused himself to the living room to take a phone call. Stephen was about to get up and start clearing away the dishes, but Tony turning to him made him stay still.

“Listen, I, uh, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” he stammered. Stephen raised an eyebrow. “For how I treated you yesterday.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Tony. You were dropped into an impossible position. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“I just – it was scary. At first. I didn’t know what was going on, and you...well, you’re really intimidating.”

“I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”

“No,” Tony replied, in turn shaking his head. “It wasn’t anything you did. Just, like, your body. You’re really tall, and clearly wicked strong, and I just – is that weird? I shouldn’t say stuff like that, right? This has to be so weird for you.”

For a second, Stephen just looked at them. And then he laughed. “Yes. It’s really fucking weird.”

That broke the awkwardness, and Tony let out a breathy laugh. “But, really, I am sorry. And then after, when I snapped at you when you were just explaining things to me. I’m sorry St- uh, Doctor...what the hell should I call you?”

Another laugh made its way through Stephen’s lungs. “Stephen. That’s not weird. I don’t think you’ve once called me Doctor Strange, so let’s skip that.”

Tony nodded his agreement. “Can I ask you something?” he wondered shyly.

Stephen narrowed his eyes slightly. “That depends.”

“It’s nothing, like, sexual or anything like that,” Tony said, rolling his eyes. “I just wanted to know if – am I good to you?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Am I good to you? Am I a good boyfriend?” The look in Tony’s eyes was almost pleading. “Are you happy with me?”

“Yes,” Stephen answered before he even considered whether this was a smart turn to let the conversation take. “You’re amazing, Tony. I – yes. I’m incredibly happy with you.”

After a moment, Tony smiled slightly. “Is it weird that I can tell you’re not lying?”

“Let’s just agree that all of this is very weird.”

Tony’s smile grew. “Rhodey wouldn’t tell me much, but he would talk about you a little bit. Just about how we met, and that he likes you because you’re good for me,” he added in response to the look of curiosity on Stephen’s face. “And how we argue about stupid stuff.”

“Well, that’s really only because we’re the most stubborn people on the planet,” Stephen mused.

“Are you mad at him?”

The question took Stephen off guard. He frowned and shook his head. “No, not at all. Rhodey is like a brother to you, and I know that -”

“Not Rhodey,” Tony cut in. “Me. The other me. The one you’re dating.”

That only added to Stephen’s confusion. “Am I mad at – why would you think I was mad at you?”

“Well, not _me_ me,” Tony said, as if that cleared things up. “Not this me. The one you know. Are you mad at him?”

“No, I’m not,” Stephen said resolutely. “Are you worried about that? About when you wake up and you’re back at the right age?”

Tony shrugged, but it gave him away. “I don’t know. You just seemed – when I asked if you lived here. You seemed upset, I guess. Your answer was off.”

“I don’t think we should be talking about this,” Stephen said gently.

“Why?”

“Because you’re – there’s nothing to talk about. Not like this. I’m not going to take advantage of you.”

“How would you be?” Tony inquired. “I don’t have any idea what’s going on. It’s not like I’m drunk or something and you’re going to get me to divulge some big secret.”

“It’s still not fair. To either of us.”

Tony titled his head at that. “What does that mean?”

Stephen sighed. “If we’re going to have this conversation again, it should be when you’re going to remember it and can actually contribute to it.”

“So it is something we fight about a lot.”

“No,” Stephen argued. “Not fight. It’s not even an argument. It’s just – fuck. It’s really frustrating, for the both of us, that we can’t do some of the things we want to.”

“Why not? Like what?”

“Tony, please. This isn’t a good idea, can we just -”

“You don’t want to live with me, right?” Tony interrupted. “Is that it? If it is, just say it. Just tell me now and then tell me when I’m back to being the real me again. It doesn’t have to be complicated.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“You’re the one who doesn’t want to live with me.”

The words are out of his mouth before Stephen can stop them. He sees the expression change on Tony’s face from confident in his arguments to surprise at Stephen’s revelation. Before he can try to take it back, Tony’s thinking out loud.

“But you have stuff here. You clearly spend a lot of time here. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Stephen sighed heavily. “I didn’t phrase it right. It’s not that you don’t want to live with me. You don’t want me to take the steps that are necessary for that to happen.”

It was almost comical how many times Tony opened and then closed his mouth. Stephen watched several cycles before he saw defeat take over the teenager. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I obviously have zero information, and no ability to go anywhere from here. I shouldn’t have pushed. It’s just that – I don’t know. I’m obviously crazy about you, and it doesn’t make any sense that I wouldn’t want to take full advantage of being with you.”

The smile that came from Stephen was a surprise to Tony, especially since it conveyed pure adoration. “I wish it was as simple as that. But even though our lives are complicated, we make it work.”

“FRIDAY let me see some pictures,” Tony reported, as if Stephen had inquired. “From when you guys – when we, I guess, went to Hawaii. I guess I just never thought it was possible for me to ever be that happy, to make someone else that happy.”

It was honestly killing Stephen to not be able to reach out to Tony in that moment. He wanted so much to draw him into a hug, kiss his forehead, hold him close. Tell him everything was fine, that they were okay and doing well together.

But he couldn’t. And that broke his heart.

“Neither did I,” Stephen said instead of taking any action, no matter how much he wanted to. “But then I met you. And here we are.”

Just as a comfortable silence was starting to settle, Rhodey came back into the kitchen. Neither Stephen nor Tony noticed the suspicious timing, or the fact that Rhodey hadn’t been speaking anymore in the living room for the better part of the last ten minutes.

When Stephen finally took his leave back to the Sanctum, it was only after promising Tony he would come back tomorrow night for dinner again.

But he also had something else in mind.

* * *

It wasn’t that Rhodey thought it was a bad idea. He was just a little upset with himself that he didn’t think of it first.

In the chaos that Tony waking up as a teenager brought, a lot of daily details were simply forgotten about for the time being. Meetings, schedules, prior commitments.

The fact that Peter came over to the penthouse lab after school.

Stephen knew for a fact that without a viable explanation for where his mentor was, the young superhero would worry sick about Tony. The battle two days ago hadn’t been all that bad, but it was obvious Tony had taken a lot of hits. And he wasn’t in his thirties anymore. Or his forties, for that matter.

So after an extensive tutorial on what he could, but more importantly what he _could not_ talk to fifteen-year-old Tony Stark about, an ecstatic Peter was brought to the penthouse.

Tony looked up at the newcomer as he walked into the kitchen with a mixture of confusion and near recognition. Both Rhodey and Stephen held their breath for a moment as it looked like Tony was about to call Peter by name and give the other teenager a hug.

But instead, he looked over at Rhodey. “Wait. Do I have a kid?”

“No,” Rhodey said with a slight laugh. He managed to bite his tongue against any jokes that wanted to crop up. “This is Peter. He’s an intern who works for SI. You’re his mentor.”

“Hey, Mr. Sta – I mean, Tony,” Peter said with a shy wave.

“You brought me a play date?” Tony asked, now looking at Stephen.

At that, Peter visibly deflated. “Oh, no. No. They just thought – because I’m seventeen, you know, so they thought it would be good for you to have someone – I know you’re not _really_ a teenager. And you’ll be back to normal soon. But I usually come here after school, and they were afraid I would be worried. Which I would be. So it’s not like that, or anything. Just, you know, something different than sitting around watching movies all day. I guess. But I can go, if you don’t want -”

“Hey,” Tony cut in gently. “Take a breath, man. I was just joking.” He got off the stool he was sitting on and walked over to Peter with his hand extended. “I know you already know me, but it’s nice to meet you.”

Peter shook the offered hand with a bright smile. “This is so cool,” he observed, more thinking out loud than anything.

It got Tony to match his smile. “You’re the first one who’s thought that. Everyone else thinks it’s weird.”

“Well, yeah,” Peter agreed. “It’s super weird. But also really cool. Do you feel younger? Or are you, like, the same guy just trapped in a different body?”

“I feel fifteen, I guess, just with the added bonus of my body feeling like it was run over by a couple of trucks recently,” Tony replied with a shrug. “Hopefully it doesn’t get worse when I wake up and am fifty again.”

“Do you remember anything?” Peter asked.

“Nope,” Tony said with a short shake of his head. Before Peter realized the question had made Tony a little anxious, he was diverting the subject. “So what do you do for SI? You must be smart if I’ve got a seventeen-year-old intern.”

Peter smiled shyly. “I just, uh, work in the lab with you mostly. Whatever you need me to do, really.”

“I don’t send you on coffee runs or to pick up my dry cleaning, do I?” Tony asked, half afraid of the answer.

“No,” Peter replied, a little too quickly. “Not at all. You teach me so much. I’m really lucky, it’s a great job. I love it.”

Tony glanced over at Stephen and Rhodey, who both smiled and nodded slightly to confirm that Tony treated Peter well. He looked back at his new friend and shrugged. “So what are we gonna do today?”

“Well,” Peter said with his own shrug. “I don’t think we’re going to be allowed in the lab. So maybe some video games?”

Noticeably, Tony perked up at that. “Great idea. The adults aren’t invited,” he said over Peter’s shoulder. “But they can get us lunch.”

Before either Rhodey or Stephen had a chance to argue, Peter and Tony disappeared into the living room.

“So this is your grand plan?” Rhodey said flatly. “Double the amount of teenagers here so we have to wait on two instead of one?”

Stephen tried to fight his smile, but couldn’t. “No. My plan was to have Peter do the hard work of making the day go by faster for Tony. For all of us. But, yeah, I guess that just comes hand in hand with it. But at least it appears as though we get to make the decision as to lunch.”

Rhodey found that he could live with that.

Per Tony’s declaration, the pair of adults stayed in the kitchen while Tony and Peter played video games for the hour leading up to lunch being delivered. They had decided on pizza, with mozzarella sticks and chicken wings added in for good measure.

While they waited, Stephen couldn’t help but pick Rhodey’s brain a bit. “Is this really how he was as a teenager?” he asked.

Rhodey instantly smiled. “Yeah. Except I can definitely see a lot of the older Tony in him, so however this spell works, it doesn’t totally take away your entire personality or anything. But he was always sarcastic. A lot quieter than he is now, though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey said with a nod. “He was shy, really. It took him a while to get comfortable around someone, and then he would start to open up. Most of the time the first couple years at MIT he was either in our room or one of the labs. He didn’t – the other stuff didn’t come until his parents died.”

Stephen swallowed. “He’s really lucky he had you when that happened.”

“It was like a switch flipped,” Rhodey remembered sadly. “He just – god, he was so young. Everyone always treated him like an adult because he was a genius. He never really got to just be a kid. And then they were gone, and he had so much responsibility. It wasn’t fair. So much has been so unfair to him and I fucking hate it.”

It wasn’t often that the colonel swore like that, and it really drove the point home to Stephen. For a few moments he tried to think of what to say, but nothing was coming to him. It was clear that he agreed with Rhodey, but he didn’t know firsthand about a lot of the details like Tony’s best friend did.

“He said he was surprised we’re still friends.”

Rhodey’s statement snapped Stephen out of his stupor. “What?”

“He told me he was surprised him and I were still friends,” Rhodey repeated. “That he thought after school we would just go our separate ways.”

Stephen shook his head once. “I think that’s part of an older Tony. The one who was used to people leaving him.”

“I think you’re right,” Rhodey agreed sadly. “That’s why it hurt so much to hear him say it.”

Luckily, they were saved shortly thereafter by the food finally being delivered. Peter and Tony reemerged from the living room, laughing and teasing each other as if they had been friends for years.

Which, okay, technically, they had been. But it was still heartwarming to see.

After eating, Rhodey and Stephen were graciously invited to join the teenagers in the living room to watch them play their video games. For most of the afternoon, Rhodey went in and out of the room, accepting a few calls and then running out for some groceries for dinner. Stephen stayed in the arm chair at the edge of the room, reading a book he disguised to look like a novel, but what was really another text on the age regression spell impacting Tony to be prepared for any side effects that may be on their way.

While he read, Stephen couldn’t help but smile at the conversation between Tony and Peter.

“How long have you been dating?”

Peter raised an eyebrow at the question and momentarily looked away from the screen. “What? Dating who?”

“MJ.”

“Oh, no,” Peter said with a forced laugh. “We’re just friends.”

“Ah. So you like her, but haven’t told her that yet.”

For a moment, Peter was going to argue. Then he decided there was no point. “How did you know?”

Tony shrugged as he tapped away at the controller. “The way you talk about her. So why haven’t you told her?”

“Because I – she’s the best, man. I don’t have a chance with her.”

“Based on what?”

Peter looked at Tony again. “What do you mean?”

“What are you basing that off of?” Tony wanted to know. “Other guys she’s dated?”

“No. As far as I know she’s never dated anyone.”

“Did she tell you she’s not interested in you?”

“Well...no.”

“Then why do you think you don’t have a chance?”

“Because I’m a total dork,” Peter huffed. “I can barely talk to her without making myself look like an idiot. Why would she want to date me?”

Tony paused the game and turned to Peter, who held back a protest. “Because you’re not a douchebag, which is rare for high school guys I’m told. Look, I obviously don’t know this girl. And I don’t know that she feels the same way you do. But I do know that there’s only one way you can find out. Don’t hold yourself back, Pete.” When a smile spread onto his face, Tony hadn’t been expecting it. “What?”

“You just – you call me Pete all the time. When you’re, you know, not fifteen.”

“Oh,” Tony replied lamely.

“Everyone else just calls me Peter,” he said with a shrug. “But you kind of have a knack for nicknames.”

“Yeah? What do I call him?” Tony asked, nodding towards Stephen.

“A lot of Harry Potter references.” Tony just blinked. “Right. You don’t – teasing him about being a wizard.”

“Sorcerer.”

Stephen chiming in made them look over at him. “Hey. Eavesdropping is rude, man,” Tony chided.

“I’m sorry,” Stephen said dramatically. “I didn’t know a conversation about me was considered eavesdropping.”

“It’s not about _you_ ,” Tony replied, a smirk coming onto his face. “You were a fleeting footnote, at best.”

At the last minute, Stephen was able to stop himself from responding. It felt like the normal banter between him and Tony, which he was convinced was inappropriate. Because it was how they flirted, even though they had been dating for over a year. And Tony was fifteen, at the moment, and that was just wrong. Stephen didn’t feel that usual attraction to him, that was for sure. He just felt protective and worried and tired.

Rhodey returning brought fresh energy to the room. He joined Tony and Peter in a few games before setting off to make dinner, which Stephen helped with. Pasta and salad, with more of the famous chocolate cake for dessert.

Somewhat reluctantly, Peter took his leave after they all had their fair share of the cake.

It was moments after that Tony collapsed.

He had meant to say something. That he didn’t feel well all of a sudden. But he wasn’t able to. His entire body locked up on him, and then the next thing he knew, he was looking up in Stephen’s gray eyes, with Rhodey hovering behind him.

Even though he could tell Stephen’s lips were moving, Tony couldn’t hear what he was saying. There was a persistent ringing in his ears. His vision started to swim, and he blacked out again for a moment. He felt his body jerking when he opened his eyes again, and then everything seemed to still. Stephen’s face came back into focus and he could feel the hand on the side of his face, trembling slightly.

“Tony? Can you hear me?”

His throat was too dry to speak, but he managed a nod. Which set off a shot of pain in his head and neck, reminding him they had connected quite violently with the hard tile of the kitchen floor. When he tried to sit up, Stephen stopped him.

“Just take it easy for a second,” he said calmly, although his eyes betrayed his voice slightly. “I think you had a seizure. Take a few deep breaths, alright?”

Instead of nodding again, Tony blinked and did as Stephen said. A few brief waves of nausea swept over him, but passed rather quickly. He wasn’t sure how long he was laying there for, but eventually, Stephen looked over his shoulder at Rhodey and said something about getting Tony to the couch.

If you had asked him before, Tony would have guessed he’d be embarrassed about being picked up off the floor and carried, bridal style, but a grown man he barely knew. But he didn’t. He felt safe, and protected, and almost begged Stephen not to let him go when they got to the couch. The trip in those strong arms had been too short lived for his liking.

But he did much prefer the soft couch against his back and shoulders as opposed to the floor. And Stephen was still right next to him, which he counted as being good enough.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked, barely recognizing his own voice thanks to the slur to his words.

Stephen put his hand on Tony’s head. He couldn’t stop himself. “You had a seizure. I’m not sure why. Can you tell me how you feel?”

“Headache,” Tony sighed. “Stomach kind of hurts. I’m tired.”

Stephen nodded encouragingly. “Okay, good. What about your vision? Can you see everything clearly?”

Tony nodded slightly. “Think so.”

“Are your ears ringing? Any trouble hearing?”

“Not anymore.”

Absentmindedly, Stephen passed his fingers through Tony’s hair. His other hand was carefully holding Tony’s right wrist, monitoring his pulse. FRIDAY relayed that Tony’s vitals were all stable, and he appeared to be perfectly fine.

“Okay. I’m going to call my friend and see what I can -”

“Please don’t leave.”

Tony’s voice was soft and broken and tore right at Stephen’s heart. He shook his head slowly, looking down into brown eyes filled with tears.

“I’m not leaving, just making a quick call. I swear. Rhodey is right here.”

“Not just – don’t leave, until I’m better. Until I’m back to normal. Please.”

“I won’t,” Stephen promised. “I’ll stay here for as long as it takes. I’ll be right back, okay? Just keep taking some deep breaths for me. I’m going to get you some water.”

As expected, the phone call with Wong wasn’t all that enlightening. The other sorcerer said the seizure was actually a good thing, explaining before Stephen could bite his head off that it meant the spell was receding. It was rare, and likely wouldn’t happen again, but Tony should stay off his feet as much as possible to be safe.

Before returning to the living room, Stephen braced his hands on the kitchen counter and leaned forward, drawing in several long breaths. Seeing Tony collapse like that had all but stopped his heart in its tracks. He needed to catch his breath, get himself under control before going back to Tony.

He brought a bottle of water in with him, but set it down on the coffee table to be forgotten for the time being. Rhodey was sitting on the couch next to Tony, who was now sitting up, trying to stretch out a knot in his shoulder.

“Can I check the back of your head?” he asked. Tony nodded. Stephen sat on the other side of him, gently prodding the lump he found. Tony hissed slightly, but didn’t try to pull away. “You’re not bleeding. Keep this on it and the swelling should be minimal.”

Tony was handed an ice pack that he didn’t remember seeing Stephen carry in. Instead of inquiring, he accepted it and placed it on the back of his head, sighing at the relief it brought. He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes.

“Sorry,” he muttered miserably. “I tried to tell you guys but it – that was so fast. I felt fine, then not so much.”

Rhodey smiled even though Tony’s eyes were still closed. He put his hand on the teenager’s knee firmly. “Don’t worry about it, man. Just try and relax. This is hopefully almost all over.”

“I don’t think it’ll happen again,” Stephen added. “But let us know if you feel off or anything. Even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal, okay?”

“Yeah,” Tony all but whispered. He opened his eyes and looked at Stephen. “Thank you. For staying.”

“You’re welcome,” Stephen replied with a smile.

After letting Tony rest for almost an hour, Rhodey put the television back on at Tony’s insistence. He didn’t much care what they watched, just wanted some background noise and a distraction so they wouldn’t worry about him so much.

Rhodey flipped back and forth between a couple of different sports games. Basketball and football. Which confused Tony a bit. Weren’t those two very different seasons? He meant to ask, but found he didn’t quite have the energy at the moment.

The couch was more than big enough for the three of them, but Tony was sitting much closer to Stephen than he was to Rhodey. His legs were tucked underneath him as he molded into the cushions behind him, head leaning to the right towards the tallest of the trio. At one point, Stephen had draped a blanket over him, earning a small smile from Tony in response as he burrowed into the warmth. Stephen kept glancing over at Rhodey, who gave him reassuringly smiles and even an eye roll here or there to convey that Stephen’s concerns were unnecessary.

Almost as soon as Rhodey got up to go to the bathroom, Tony turned to Stephen.

“Promise me you’ll talk to me about it when I’m back.”

Stephen was almost startled by the sudden voice. It had been a long time since anyone in the room had spoken. He looked at Tony, brow furrowed. “Talk to you about what?”

“Moving in together.”

“Tony, I -” Stephen began, but stopped himself to take a breath. “I don’t want you to worry about that. I promise you, we’re happy. Everything is okay.”

“Just promise me,” Tony said, his tired voice emphasizing his vulnerability in the moment. “Maybe it won’t get us anywhere, but maybe it will.”

After only a brief pause, Stephen nodded. “Okay. I promise.”

Shortly after Rhodey’s return, Tony closed his eyes, and was asleep in minutes.

* * *

It wasn’t until the early morning hours that Stephen finally drifted off as well. Not into a deep sleep, by any means. And he hadn’t meant to. But he slipped into a light sleep despite his best efforts.

He woke easily once his mind recognized the light coming into the room. The floor to ceiling windows allowed for that to happen at the earliest possible moment. After a second or two, he became aware of a weight on his left side, right at his ribs under his arm. He noted a calming warmth, but that calm evaporated when he looked down at realized it was coming from Tony.

At one point or another, he had snuggled up against Stephen, his head resting dangerously close to his lap. Stephen was just about to slide away, as carefully as possible, but then he noticed.

He noticed the gray hair.

Before he could even think, Stephen was carding his fingers through the soft strands. He felt himself release a shaky laugh. In his attempt to try and lean forward and get a look at Tony’s face, the man against him stirred.

“Stephen.”

The lone word, muffled by clothes and sleep, was still enough to confirm that Tony was back. He sighed into Stephen’s body and tried to get closer.

“Yeah, honey,” Stephen replied, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

“I don’t feel good.”

Stephen kept his hand moving through Tony’s hair. “I know. Go back to sleep. You’ll feel better in a few hours.”

“Why are we on the couch?”

“Too tired to go to bed, I guess. Are you warm enough?”

Something resembling a nod came from Tony. “You’re a good pillow.”

Another laugh rumbled through Stephen. “Go back to sleep, baby. Get some more rest.”

Later, Stephen would vaguely remember Rhodey leaving after giving his shoulder a firm squeeze and smiling down at Tony. But in the moment, all he was sure of was that Tony was okay and back in his arms where he belonged.

* * *

“Wait. That was all real and not just a dream?”

After sleeping another three or so hours, Tony woke up slowly. After he got a cup of coffee and some breakfast in him, Stephen explained what had happened over the last three days.

“All real,” Stephen confirmed. “Do you remember any of it?”

Tony frowned. “Well, no, I guess not. Just parts. Playing video games with Peter, mostly. Rhodey playing baseball? That can’t be right.”

Stephen smiled. “I think you guys might have watched some old Red Sox games.”

But Tony had already moved on from that. “So I – that’s it, right? It’s over?”

“Yeah. The spell wore off on its own. Do you feel alright?”

“I think so,” Tony said with a shrug. “A little tired, I guess. My neck is a bit stiff, but that’s probably from sleeping on you.”

“You, uh, also had a minor seizure last night,” Stephen reported. Tony raised an eyebrow. “The spell caused it towards the end. You fell and hit your head pretty good.”

“Was Peter here for that?”

“No.”

Tony sighed. “Good.”

Stephen nodded his agreement. “Everything seems fine. But take it easy for a couple days, okay? I don’t know what -”

Suddenly, he trailed off as he got choked up. Tony frowned in concern. He reached out and put a hand on the curve of Stephen’s neck, the other finding his leg and squeezing firmly.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Tony said softly. “I’m alright.”

Forcing a deep breath, Stephen nodded. “I know. You were just so – god, Tony. You were so young. And scared. I hate seeing you in pain.”

Gently, Tony pulled Stephen to meet him halfway so he could press a kiss to his temple. “I’m sorry,” he muttered into Stephen’s hair, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. “But I’m okay. You took really good care of me.”

“It was mostly Rhodey, really,” Stephen sighed.

“Did I drive you nuts and you dumped me on him?” Tony teased.

Stephen pulled back so he could look into Tony’s eyes. He smiled, reaching up and brushing his thumb across Tony’s cheek. “No. You were...” he found he didn’t have the words. So he opted for kissing Tony instead, something he had longed to do for what felt like months instead of a few short days.

Tony responded immediately. He opened his mouth to Stephen’s wandering tongue, not holding back his soft moan as their tongues came together. His hand stretched up into Stephen’s hair to hold him in place while he felt Stephen’s mapping across his chest and back.

When they pulled apart, Tony didn’t let much room come between their bodies. “You can’t tell me I need to take it easy and then kiss me like that, Stephen,” he breathed.

With a short laugh, Stephen kissed him again. “You know I have very little control when it comes to you.”

Tony hummed. He leaned forward, nuzzling his nose across Stephen’s cheek and down to his jaw, sweeping across the defined line. “Then you would be in agreement if I asked you to come to bed with me, yeah?”

There was no suggestiveness to Tony’s voice, just clear exhaustion. By way of response, Stephen rose, pulling Tony to his feet as well. He pressed another kiss to Tony’s lips before sliding their hands together and leading them to the bedroom.

Only a slight flicker of that morning three days ago pestered Stephen as they climbed under the covers. But any sense of unease dissipated at the feel of Tony’s arms around him, drawing their bodies together, tangling their legs in a mess of limbs. With Tony’s head on his chest and securely wrapped up in Stephen’s arms, it seemed as though nothing else would be able to get in.

And so they slept.

* * *

Plenty of rest and water seemed to do the trick. Absent some lingering tenderness to the spot on the back of his head, Tony felt back to normal by the next day. At Stephen’s insistence, he remained on the lazy side, lounging around the penthouse with the sorcerer, taking advantage of some extra downtime before their lives got back to their usual craziness.

By lunchtime the second day, Tony noticed how quiet Stephen was. The other man was usually on the more reserved side, but this seemed different somehow. At first, Tony chalked it up to being drained after the ordeal. It seemed to get more pronounced, however, and before his anxiety could set in, he decided to make sure Stephen was okay.

They were stretched out on the couch, on opposite ends, their legs folded together in the middle. Stephen was skimming through a book while Tony worked on some sketches for Peter’s suit. Picking his moment, Tony tossed his notepad aside onto the coffee table, getting Stephen’s attention.

“Are you okay?”

Stephen nodded a little too soon. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”

“What’s up?” Tony asked by way of a reply. “I did something when I was...” he waved his hands in the air to try to make his point. “An adolescent idiot. Right?”

“No,” Stephen said with a sigh. “I just made you a promise, is all.”

Tony frowned. “What kind of promise?”

Stephen closed his book and set it on the table behind him. “For a fifteen-year-old, you were pretty observant. You noticed – we talked about why I didn’t live here.”

That made Tony’s face fall. “Oh.”

“And the last night that you were...” Stephen copied Tony’s hand motions to try and lighten the sudden tension, but it didn’t seem to work. “You made me promise to talk to you about it again when you were back to normal.”

Tony nodded once and fell silent. His eyes looked anywhere but at Stephen, making the taller of the pair regret keeping his promise. Which was not a feeling he was all that familiar with, especially when it came to Tony.

As the silence became unbearable, Stephen sat up, trying to close the distance he felt starting to build between them.

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” he started, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I know we’ve talked about this many times, and there’s no reason to keep -”

“I love you.” Tony’s interruption effectively stopped Stephen mid-sentence. It wasn’t exactly new information, but was a bit out of place at the moment all the same. “More than anything. And I think my younger self knew that, and was trying to help, or something. I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s not fair, and I just wish – fuck. I don’t know what to say.”

Stephen swallowed. “You don’t have to say anything. I know how you feel, and I understand. I respect your position.”

“I don’t want to have a position,” Tony huffed. “My position is that I love you, and want to spend as much time as possible with you. But, Stephen, you’re too important. Not just to me, but to the entire _Earth_. And you love it. I can’t ask you to step away from that just for me. I know you think you want to, and that what we have is enough, but it’s not.” Stephen just stared, his heart beating a bit too hard. “I’m not enough. You won’t admit that, but it’s true.”

“It’s not,” Stephen argued gently. “There is very little that’s true about the way you see yourself.”

Tears suddenly glistened in Tony’s eyes. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted. “Because if we stay still forever, you’ll get sick of this and leave. But if we – if you have to give anything up to be with me, you’ll regret it. And then leave. I’m not sure which one gives me more time with you.”

It was a bit of a hassle, but Stephen managed to move closer to Tony on the couch. When it was all said and done, Tony’s legs were draped over Stephen’s lap, almost sitting on him, while the sorcerer curled his body towards the shorter man. He put an arm across Tony’s legs while reaching out to rest a hand on the side of Tony’s face, poised to wipe away any tears that may fall.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said resolutely. “I’m not giving you an ultimatum. Not even close. I’m happy with you, with how things are. And I recognize that nothing about either of our lives affords for anything to be easy for us. I just – I don’t want you to think you’re not important to me, because you are. You clearly have no idea just how much.”

For a long time, Tony stared into Stephen’s eyes. They were the first thing he noticed about the other man. Well, save for the sparks of the portal. But that wasn’t really a physical attribute. The cheekbones, hair, voice, perfect build, all of that came later. Those blue-green eyes were always first, always what captivated Tony the most.

And in them he saw nothing but honesty, love and surety. If Stephen could be so sure, why couldn’t he? He knew he was still kind of a mess, but hadn’t Stephen picked most of that up at this point?

Wouldn’t waking up in the same bed as this man every single day be worth any possible risk his anxiety riddled mind could conjure up?

Tony was starting to think so.

“Maybe,” he started, then had to clear his throat around the lump that had formed just from looking into Stephen’s eyes. “Maybe there’s some middle ground we can find? To start.” His hand found Stephen’s resting on his thigh. “I’m not saying no, baby. It’s never no when it comes to you. I want to live with you. I want to spend every second of the rest of my life with you. I guess – I just don’t know how to do that.”

“Neither do I,” Stephen agreed with a shrug. “But I’m pretty sure that together, we can figure it out.”

When it came right down to it, there was no arguing with those eyes.

So Tony didn’t try. Instead, he signaled his agreement with a kiss.


End file.
